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Comment by mkaroumi | Hacker News Reader

My watch company.

Started it in September and started selling before the watches were made. They're still in production and will be finished soon.

Wouldn't maybe call it "passive income", but the sales keep coming through WOM. (http://gardannewatches.com)

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What is with these artifacts in this image? Are these real watches? It looks like some image samples poorly photoshopped together.

http://gardannewatches.com/products/gardanne-black-brown-wat...

Those artifacts look more from a badly cropped photo than a render, so I would venture a guess that was a real watch.

The watch case design is a render and the band is a photo of real bands. But as I said before, the watches are under production right now, finished very soon. So we're not able to have any real photos of the watch yet :)

Got it. A bit surprising you didn't get any manufacturing samples, but cool.

I could, but that would cost $300 for that sample. I got a sample of another watch to feel the quality. And I can tell you - it felt good!

Out of interest, strongly assuming that you've contracted manufacture to a foreign country from the price point (and assuming your profit in there), could you speak at all about how your contract goes with regards to quality control?

What happens if what you get doesn't match what you're expecting, without an approved sample?

Also, any ballpark on the setup? Or is it per-unit?

(Feel free to demure if you don't want to share, just curious. You see fewer physical than virtual products!)

Great questions. I can't answer as detailed as I would like to do.

But, I can't be 100% sure that these watches will be of the same quality, but I'm 99% sure. I've dealed with these manufacturers for a while and we have a tight partnership.

I don't want to misinterpret and give you wrong info, so what do you mean with ballpark? Not sure what you mean :)

Understand there are contractual (and business!) limitations to what can be said, so thanks for any answers. :)

By ballpark, I meant could you give round numbers (ie number of figures) on the up-front investment to get something like this off the ground? Or whether it's a back end per-item partnership?

Also, kudos to you and best of luck. It is a nice design, and you're right -- the watch community is under-served by reasonably priced but simple designs. Some of Seiko, Citizen, Orient, and especially Skagen's stuff is nice, but it's amazing how terrible other pieces are.

Some of my favorites are still vintage from the 60s!

Glad to hear that from you.

I'm really sorry, I can't tell you how much I invested but I can tell you that it was for the first batch and not per-item charging. So you kinda need to invest a lot of money to start something like this - if you want to create great quality products :)

Vintages from the 60s are sooo amazing. We were actually inspired from some vintage watches (and modern watches) :)

OOPS... it wasn't a real watch...

How is this a passive income though? Seems like the literal opposite.

As I said before, this is not really passive income, but I can easily sell watches just with the effort I put in earlier. I don't have to put as much time and effort as soon as the watches come if I don't want it to scale.

Are those images renders or actual product? It's a really nice looking watch, at a great price.

Renders. The watches will be finished soon and then we'll be able to show you real photos. That'll happen in weeks, I hope :)

I would echo the same sentiments as others. The watch design looks great, however, it does look like a photoshop render than an actual watch. If this was not posted on HN, I would have immediately ignored it as a scam. Have you shipped the watch to any customers?

Totally understand. It's hard to make people trust you before you have the real pics of the watch. But they'll be finished soon and then we'll have some real photos ;)

Really interested in designing my own watch.

What software do you use to design them? Is there an industry standard format that I would need to send manufactures?

I've tried googling around but I have not found anything conclusive.

The easiest way is to contact a manufacture and ask how they would want it. I used CAD and sent it but it's different from time to time.

Those watches look very nice!

Is it possible to get the white compass with a black leather strap?

Thanks a lot! It won't be able at first, but probably in March/April :)

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